No armed security officer was present in a Port St. Joe courtroom when a man pulled a gun and killed three people and wounded another at the end of a routine civil hearing Tuesday.

At least in Palm Beach County courtrooms, one armed bailiff or uniformed sheriff's deputy is present for most civil and criminal court proceedings.

"The main thing is just that the bailiff has to stay alert and try to foresee the unforeseeable," said Bailiff Bob Warren, who is assigned to one of the civil court divisions in Palm Beach County.

Still, even before Tuesday's courthouse shootout in the Panhandle community, steps were being taken to improve security in Palm Beach courthouses.

"We're hoping to be proactive and do something before anything happens instead of the usual reactionary thing after something happens," Court Administrator Susan Ferrante said on Wednesday.

Already on order is a silent alarm system for courtrooms, judge's chambers and other strategic locations in the courthouse, Ferrante said.

Plans also call for a system to provide a direct, secure access for judges from the courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach to the adjacent parking garage.

The budget for the fiscal year that begins in October includes provisions for more portable metal detectors to be used to screen people as they enter certain courtrooms, Ferrante said. There is also money budgeted for additional radios to improve communications between security officers in the courthouse, she said.

But action to upgrade the security of the current courthouse has been slow because of plans for a new main courthouse for the county.

"The date keeps getting pushed back, but right now I'd say we're looking at 1992 as the earliest we'll be in the new courthouse," Ferrante said.

"Whatever we're doing now (to enhace security in the current courthouse) we want to be able to transfer it to the new courthouse," she said.

Courthouse security now is provided by a cadre of armed bailiffs who are special sheriff's deputies assigned to individual judges and courtrooms, and uniformed sheriff's deputies who escort prisoners to and from court proceedings.

During felony criminal proceedings involving a prisoner in custody, at least one bailiff and one deputy generally is present. During civil proceedings or felony proceedings involving a defendant not in custody, at least one bailiff generally is present.

The public is allowed access to all court proceedings and many offices without being subject to security checks.

In special circumstances -- such as in a recent murder case where relatives of the victim reportedly promised to seek retribution against the defendant if he were not convicted -- additional bailiffs and deputies are assigned to screen people entering the courtroom and to provide additional security inside the courtroom.

At least one judge said he would like to see a system where everyone entering the courthouse was screened for weapons.

"With all the briefcases and the bags and everything else brought into the courthouse, in this day and age, it ought to be like boarding an airplane," said Judge Richard Burk.

Burk said he favored a system where the public entered the building through designated doors and passed through metal detectors that examined them and their bags for weapons.

"A year or two ago we had a lawyer drop his briefcase (in a lobby area) and a gun went off," Burk said. "Nobody ought to be in that courthouse with a gun except law enforcement personnel."

Burk said he expects such a system to be incorporated in the new courthouse when it is opened.

"I think the county commission and the court administrators are addressing that matter" in their planning, Burk said. "I hope that will be the last time we have to address the issue."